Materials
Singapore
ICH Materials 53
Publications(Article)
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Section 4 Reflections of SelfMasks are used by people to hide themselves while acting as others, and are also used to express something inside the wearer, perhaps a personality that they do not usually reveal or something related to spirituality and faith. The MassKara Festival and the Moryonan, representative festivals of the Philippines, are large-scale street events to celebrate the nation’s history and culture, and to gather local society together. The MassKara Festival, which features a parade full of colorful masks and costumes, reveals the joys and passions of Bacolod citizens. On the other hand, the Moryonan Lenten rites shows the cultural heritage of Marinduque inhabitants who creatively follow Catholic tradition.Year2023NationPhilippines,Singapore
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Jathilan: Dancing with SpiritsJathilan (Javanese horse dance) combines dance, music, and altered states of consciousness in a spectacular cultural performance. Despite not being known to the outside world (even tourists visiting Java are hardly aware of its existence), it is popular among the locals.\n\nA folk performance encompassing both ritual and entertainment purposes, jathilan is commonly described as ‘horse dance’ because the woven bamboo horse effigies are the hallmark props used by the performers. The dancers are believed to be possessed by spirits that make the dancers act differently and allow them to perform various feats based on physical invulnerability. Thus, performances might include demonstrations of eating glass, husking big green coconuts with bare teeth and hands, whipping performers, walking on hot coals, or being ran over by a motorcycle—all without inflicting any harm.\n\nOther than the dancers, who are in the spotlight of the audience’s attention and dressed in bright costumes reminiscent of ancient Javanese warriors, the pawang is another key figure. The pawang conducts the performance and holds all the knowledge of the spirits’ nature and desires and the ways of inviting them and making them leave. All the dancers emphasize their trust in the pawang as the trance master, making sure that every performance will run safely and smoothly. None of the performers remember what has happened to them in trance. It is generally believed that anyone can learn to perform jathilan; not a particular talent but good personal relationship is the key reason for someone to be absorbed by a performing group. Jathilan groups are like big families where everyone helps and supports each other. Although the performers are paid for their shows, it is never expected to become their main source of income. Typically, performers have a day job. What drives them to keep performing jathilan is their desire to see their culture living—as they always say.\n\nHorse trance dance is popular all over the island of Java. It can also be found in almost any area where Javanese immigrants are present—in other Indonesian islands, in neighboring countries such as Singapore and Malaysia (under the name kuda kepang), and even in South American Suriname, which has a 13 percent Javanese population. Jathilan is one of the many manifestations of Javanese folk religion that still remains quite widespread nowadays despite the official statistic indicating that over 90 percent of Javanese adhere to Islam.\n\nPhoto : Entranced dancer with horse effigies © Eva RapoportYear2018NationIndonesia
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The Many Faces of Ramayana through the Lens of Benoy K. BehlBenoy K. Behl is described as one of the great art historians of India by various media platforms. He has a record of taking more than 35, 000 photographs and producing more than 100 documentaries. It is possible to draw forth a comprehensive visual imagery of Buddhist art in India and other parts of Asia through his outputs over the years; a subject that is beautifully explored in his work.\n\nWith the support of the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India, Benoy K. Behl has created another landmark project: a documentary on Ramayana as staged in India and beyond. Entitled Ramayana: The Great Epic of South and Southeast Asia, Behl’s most recent documentary had its world premiere at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, California on 3 December 2016.1. The documentary is generally a montage that presents Ramayana performances from nine countries such as Bhutan, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Nepal, Singapore, Sri Lanka, and Thailand. It decisively attests to the claim that there was indeed a close historical cultural contact between Hindu India and Asia; this is among other things crucial to say about the documentary.\n\nAs current discourse on contemporary cultural production tends to emphasize the importance of transnational and diasporic tendencies, it should be noted that Behl’s documentary reflects previous studies on Ramayana, specifically the account of it being seriously regarded outside India. For example, Santosh N. Desai, in the essay Ramayana—An Instrument of Historical Contact and Cultural Transmission between India and Asia2., provides a useful cartography about how Ramayana travelled from North and Northwest Asia to Southeast Asia. In addition, Desai states some important details about how Ramayana was recreated into a text once taken from its geographic and anthropological origins, deviating from the Valmiki original version.\n\nBehl’s documentary on Ramayana gives a capacious effort to bridge the cultural gap between understanding Ramayana as a literary text and appropriating it as a performance text. It speaks of how literature can be a medium of exchange, surviving ancient stories which in some ways have shaped taste and perception across lands and generations. More importantly, it captures the evolution of an old and transcendental text as it is staged and performed in many Asian countries. As each country featured in the documentary showcases an appropriation of Ramayana different from the rest in terms of theatrical elements, Behl’s documentary shows that performing arts can be a vehicle to share cultural differences.\n\nDocumenting the movement of a text that has always been a part of tradition—from how it was once told to how it is received in the present—is itself an act of preservation. It immortalizes the journey of inheritance and reinforces the ways in which individuals appreciate their cultural roots.\n\nPhoto : The Battle at Lanka, Ramayana © SahibdinYear2017NationIndia
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Community Benefit-Sharing for Sustainable Tourism Development in Thanh Ha Pottery VillageHoi An is a small city located in the central region of Viet Nam, covering an area of 60 km2. It has two World Heritage Sites recognized by UNESCO: Hoi An Ancient Town (“an exceptionally well-preserved example of a South-East Asian trading port dating from the 15th to the 19th century”; UNESCO, 2018) and Cham Islands Biosphere Reserve. \n\nIn its day, Hoi An was the most prosperous trading port in Dang Trong, southern Viet Nam, and famous throughout Southeast Asia. Not only traders from all over the country but also a large number of foreign merchants from China, Macao, Japan, Manila, Malacca, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, as well as Western countries such as France, Portugal, and Italy traveled across the sea to Hoi An to conduct business. Here, merchants could easily sell and purchase goods per their requirements, especially ceramic products.Year2023NationViet Nam
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ICH Policy Brief MOVE 2023 APR01 UNESCO Trends\n* Mosul city employs local artisans to revive its landmark and culture\n* UNESCO reimagines African folk tales with Netflix together\n* Nominations to the Lists of the 2003 Convention for 2024 submitted from all around the world\n\n02 Asia-Pacific Trends\n* Documentation and digitization of Western Bengal’s traditional performing art form supported by the German consulate\n* A film featuring Cambodian tradition and culture released\n* 2023 ICH Brand Summit held in Guangzhou, China\n* Singapore National Arts Councils released Our SG Arts Plan (2023-2027)\n\n03 Korean Trends\n* Open call for elements to nominate to UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity Representative List on the next cycle\n* MCST announced the Second Culture Promotion Plan (2023-2027)\n* KNUCH established the Center for World Heritage and Sustainable Development to train HIA professionals\n* Promotion of transmitting community for National Intangible Cultural Heritage kicks offYear2023NationSouth Korea
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THE METALLIC THREAD OF MALAY EMBROIDERYHistorically, Malaysia (the Malay Peninsula) was known as the Golden Chersonese, and in the past, Malay populations lived in riverine and coastal settlements, which were some of the most important trading hubs in Southeast Asia. The Malay maritime empire was once a large kingdom, stretching from the coast of Vietnam and Cambodia to Southern Thailand, the Malay Peninsula, Singapore, Borneo, Sumatra, Riau, Sulawesi, and Southern Philippines. Across the Malay-speaking world, fabrics embellished with gold were for the rich and powerful, such as the ruler of the kingdom. Besides the golden fabric, songket, Malay embroideries were mostly used by nobility and royals. In the fifteenth century, the Melaka Sultanate instituted sumptuary laws governing the types of ornaments and colors for interior and soft furnishings, such as curtain fringes, bolster ends, cushions, prayer mats and other items. Across the Malay world, the numbers of dais, bolsters, and layers of siting mats, were associated with a certain hierarchy, varying across the regions.Year2018NationSouth Korea
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Nillaikalakki SilambamSilambam, a martial art originating from Tamil Nadu, South India, that focuses on stick twirling is one of many Indian traditional arts that have survived through the periods of Ancient India, Medieval India, and Modern India, including the British colonial era. It remained alive in other countries as well, including Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Malaysia, and Singapore. Silambam is an ancient Tamil martial art that carries many Tamil cultural values in its training and also during the transmission of the art from master to students.\nAncient Silambam’s cultural heritage and knowledge survived thousands of years through transmission to many generations, but the art is currently facing extinction. This drastic change is due to contemporary Silambam practitioners forgoing the values of the art and adopting elements of other martial art cultures, introducing new traditions such as belt grading systems, becoming more competition focused, and so on. The martial art with these newly adapted elements has been categorized as Sports Silambam. Many new Silambam organizations have been registered and even masters who have coached traditional Silambam are adopting these changes to train students toward success in competitions. Meanwhile, competition organizers offer handsome rewards to the winners in order to entice many young students to learn Sports Silambam. By focusing on the new approach geared toward competition, Sports Silambam masters fail to preserve the original combat techniques and cultural heritage values of authentic Silambam arts. While Sports Silambam is heavily and widely promoted, authentic Silambam masters and practitioners are struggling and facing hurdles to safeguard the intangible cultural heritage (ICH) of this particular ancient Silambam. Adding to the obstacles is the issue of finding the right disciples to ensure the knowledge is transferred to the next generations in the current era of mushrooming globalization.Year2020NationSouth Korea
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SUPERDIVERSITY AND THE CHALLENGE FOR ICH SAFEGUARDINGAccording to UNESCO’s Culture Urban Future: Global Report on Culture for Sustainable Development (Paris 2016), over half of the world’s population is now living in urban areas. Because of the heterogeneous background of these city populations, superdiversity has become a permanent feature not just of conurbations such as Singapore, Bangkok, and Mumbai. Also Europe is struggling with this challenge, which might create tensions and conflicts and the emergence of old and new cultural practices, reflecting new social identities and shared social spaces (Vertovec, 141). The Dutch city of Rotterdam, in the Netherlands, harbors immigrants with at least 160 different ethnic backgrounds, everyone bringing along his or her own intangible cultural heritage. What is intangible heritage in such an ethnically divided society? There is evidence that in such a superdiverse context, ICH can contribute to community building and more generally to sustainable development.Year2019NationSouth Korea
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Cultures in a Cosmopolitan City: Challenges, Changes, and ContinuityThere are various phenomena that pose a risk to living heritage, ranging from demographic issues to economic pressures, as identified by UNESCO (see https://ich.unesco.org/dive/threat/). This article will address three ongoing issues commonly believed to present a considerable challenge to the viability and practice of ICH in highly urbanized cities: limited land area, increasing focus on modern technology, and the COVID-19 pandemic.\nAs a metropolis with a population of 5.45 million across 728 square kilometers, Singapore must keep abreast of developments in modern technology and urbanization, along with the social, cultural, and economic changes they bring. Similarly, as a hub of international travel and business, Singapore had to navigate the waves of change brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, and its implications on the city-state’s ICH.Year2022NationSingapore
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Neighbourhood Sketches: Bringing ICH onto the StreetsKampong Gelam is an historical precinct that was originally conceived by Sir. Stamford Raffles to be a settlement area for the Malay, Arab, and Bugis communities in Singapore. In 1989, the core area of Kampong Gelam was gazetted for conservation by the Urban Redevelopment Authority. Today, the historical precinct continues to retain a strong Malay and Muslim identity with both traditional and modern trades attracting locals and foreign tourists alike.\n\nLocated at the heart of Kampong Gelam is the Malay Heritage Centre, a heritage institution managed by the National Heritage Board. The center serves as a showcase of Malay heritage and culture in Singapore, as a focal point for the Malay community in Singapore and a place-maker for the historical precinct. It also presents exhibitions and programs that showcase the intangible cultural heritage (ICH) of the various sub-communities within the wider Malay community.\n\nIn 2011, the Malay Heritage Centre conceptualized and introduced its signature program known as Neighbourhood Sketches. Neighbourhood Sketches is a series of regular outdoor performances held within Kampong Gelam. The program brings the rich and diverse ICH art forms of the Malay community closer to the public through regular street performances outside the walls of the center.\n\nSince the introduction of the program in 2011, the Malay Heritage Centre has presented a total of 126 performances that have attracted more than 23,000 participants. The different types of ICH art forms showcased in these performances included Wayang Kulit (shadow puppet theater), Dondang Sayang (performance involving the exchange of Malay quatrains set to music), Angklung (ensemble performance using instruments made from bamboo), Gamelan Melayu (ensemble performance using predominantly percussive instruments), Dikir Barat (Malay choral singing), Silat (Malay martial arts), and Kuda-Kepang (Javanese horse dance).\n\nWhen curating performances for Neighbourhood Sketches, the Malay Heritage Centre makes a conscious effort to showcase a broad range of ICH art forms practiced by and associated with the Malay community. In addition to staging performances, the center ensures that key characteristics of each art form are shared with the audience during every performance and, where applicable, interactive segments involving audience participation are also included.\n\nIn addition, the Malay Heritage Centre records performances staged as part of Neighbourhood Sketches as a means of documenting the ICH art forms presented. The centre also leverages on technology to promote the performances to raise public awareness and uses social media platforms such as Facebook Live to broadcast these performances so that they are able to reach out to a wider audience.\n\nThus far, Neighbourhood Sketches has received an overwhelmingly positive response, and the majority of the audience members surveyed requested more performances as well as certain other ICH art forms to be presented. In addition, 95 percent of the audience members agreed that watching the performances contributed to a better understanding and appreciation of Malay arts, culture, and heritage.\n\nIt is worth noting that the ICH practitioners who participated in Neighbourhood Sketches have also enjoyed being part of the program. In fact, many of these ICH practitioners were grateful for the opportunity to showcase their craft to a wider audience and informed the Malay Heritage Centre that they felt a stronger sense of pride as ICH bearers after participating.\n\nBesides showcasing the cultural expressions, practices, and art forms of the Malay community, the performances of Neighbourhood Sketches also serve to educate and entertain visitors to Kampong Gelam. In doing so, they contribute to the overall cultural vibrancy of the historical precinct by activating its streets by presenting performances that are engaging and reflective and respectful of the precinct’s identity, culture, and heritage.\n\nPhoto : Wayang Wong (traditional Javanese theatre) performance by Kesenian Tedja Timur in the historical Kampong Gelam precinct. ⓒ Malay Heritage CentreYear2019NationSingapore
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SINGAPO人—Discovering Chinese Singaporean Culture through Food, Festivals, and LanguageSingapore is a tiny Southeast Asian nation-state located in a region with many ethnic groups, of which the Chinese comprise only a small percentage of the overall population. Yet, the Chinese form the majority in Singapore, living alongside a significant proportion of non-Chinese. Over many years, this has led to a Chinese Singaporean identity that is complex and ever-changing.\n\nIn 2020, the Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre launched a permanent exhibition to encourage greater appreciation of the distinctiveness of Chinese culture in Singapore through examples of food, festivals, and languages. For the exhibition title to reflect Singapore’s linguistic diversity, the curators invented a word by combining English and Mandarin—the two most widely spoken languages in Singapore. The first element of the title “Singapo” is drawn from the country’s English name while the “人” element is the Chinese character for “person” (pronounced as “ren” in Mandarin). Hence, by reading the two elements together, the exhibition title “ SINGAPO人” sounds like “Singaporean!”\n\nTo provide the context, the exhibition begins with an examination of five key historical socio-geographical aspects about Singapore that led the local Chinese community to develop differently. They comprised the legacy of 150 years of British colonial rule, its location in tropical Southeast Asia, heritage of early Chinese migrants who were mostly from the southern coastal provinces of Fujian and Guangdong, the co-existence of a relatively large proportion of non-Chinese minorities, and Singapore’s reliance on global trade and connectivity for its economic survival.\n\nThese five aspects may be summarized into three basic driving forces that have shaped and continue to shape the Chinese culture in Singapore today. Firstly, there is Chinese heritage, which the early migrants brought to Singapore. These include their values (as reflected in festivals and practices), belief systems, language, customs, and food dishes that originated from China. Secondly, there are the cultural interactions among the different southern Chinese sub-groups (dialect groups) and between the Chinese community and the other ethnic groups in Singapore. These interactions ranged from the casual, such as attending to daily chores, to deeper levels of engagement, such as inter-marriage. These led to changes and adaptations to the way of life of the local Chinese. Thirdly, the Chinese community was also affected by how Singapore was governed. Whether during the colonial period or post-independence, all governments seek to shape society to achieve certain objectives. Hence, the impact of public policies and laws on cultural development is significant.\n\nIn other words, these are the three underlying key ingredients that give the Chinese Singaporean ‘recipe’ its distinct flavor. For instance, this is reflected in the way Chinese New Year is celebrated in Singapore. Firstly, the festival is a tradition that originated in China, and as such, is part of Chinese heritage (first ingredient). Although Chinese New Year does not coincide with the new year of the Gregorian calendar used in Singapore, it is nevertheless a public holiday and held in high regard by the local Chinese because it is a festival that emphasizes family togetherness and filial piety. Secondly, Singaporeans love to eat pineapple tarts and love letters during Chinese New Year. However, these snacks did not originate from China. Rather, they were made popular by the Peranakan (local-born) Chinese who often adopted Western techniques like the baking oven, and Western ingredients such as butter in their cuisine. This type of hybrid food is an example of cultural interaction (second ingredient) at work. Thirdly, during Chinese New Year, Singaporeans enjoy attending local festive events like Chingay and River Hongbao. These are large-scale public events organized by the state or state-sponsored organizations. This is an example of public policies (third ingredient) shaping the way in which Chinese New Year is celebrated in Singapore.\n\nHence, these three ingredients, found in many overseas Chinese communities, were present in the past and continue to exist in Singapore today. The influence of each ingredient varies with time, creating complex outcomes that shape Chinese Singaporean culture.\n\nFor more information about the exhibition SINGAPO 人, please refer to the SCCC website at: https://singaporeccc.org.sg/permanent-exhibition/\n\nPhotos 1~4 : The exhibition uses both physical and digital media content to engage visitors. © Low Sze WeeYear2021NationSingapore
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Lintas Nusantara: Dance Forms from the Malay WorldSingapore’s Malay Heritage Centre (MHC) organizes Lintas Nusantara, an annual dance festival that serves as a platform for dance masters and troupes from Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and other countries in the region to showcase their work and capabilities and to facilitate cultural exchanges among the countries involved.\n\nTo commemorate the tenth anniversary of the festival, MHC will be launching a publication entitled Lintas Nusantara: A Spectacle of Dance and Music in October 2021. The publication will provide a visual record of all the dances performed at the festival and include several essays that aim to provide a deeper understanding of the various dance forms as well as their origins, development, and evolution.\n\nIt will cover a total of twenty-three Malay dance forms performed in Singapore, different states in Malaysia, and different regions of Indonesia. These dance forms include Zapin Sungai Kallang from Singapore; Mak Yong and Tari Asyik from Malaysia; and Pajaga Makkunrai (Bugis), Tari Golek Menak (Yogyakarta) and Tari Gending Sriwijaya (Palembang) from Indonesia.\n\nAs part of the publication’s aim to foster more extensive research into dances from the Malay Archipelago, it will feature twenty-seven essays by academics and researchers from Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, East Timor, and the Philippines. These essays will cover topics such as preserving dance and community traditions; spirituality in dance and movement; forging cultural and community identity through dance; cultural borrowings as expressed through music, costumes, and movements.\n\nLintas Nusantara: A Spectacle of Dance and Music will also include reflections regarding the importance of cultural exchanges in the growth and evolution of dance and music as well as the development of a dynamic Malay dance ecosystem from musicians Thow Xin Wei (Gamelan Singa Nglaras) and Fadhli Ramlee (aluNada Muzik) as well as an interview with Mr. Osman Abdul Hamid, a dance practitioner renowned for his artistic contributions to the Malay dance scene in Singapore since the late 1970s.\n\nThrough this publication, MHC hopes to provide an overview of the wide spectrum of Malay dance forms, contribute to existing research and documentation on Malay performing arts, and promote greater cross-cultural understanding and appreciation of the diverse dance forms from the Malay world.\n\nLintas Nusantara: A Spectacle of Dance and Music is a bilingual publication written in both English and Malay, and interested parties can send their inquiries to Jamal_Mohamad@nhb.gov.sg.\n\nPhoto 1 : Dancers from Guntur Mataram Dance Company (Jakarta) performing the Tari Golek Asmaradana Bawaraga. Photograph courtesy of Malay Heritage Centre\nPhoto 2 : Artist Seni Budaya (Singapore) performing the Tari Gending Sriwijaya with dancers from Universitas PGRI Palembang (Indonesia). Photograph courtesy of Malay Heritage CentreYear2021NationMalaysia